Shahab Moradi

Shahab Moradi (; ; born in Tehran), is an Iranian clergyman, preacher, and university lecturer. He has appeared in different programs on Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting as an expert since 2000.

Early life and education

Shahab Moradi studied at seminaries in Tehran and Qom.

He began his studies at the Ghaem Seminary in Chizar under Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Asghar Hashemi Olya. He also studied under the late Ayatollah Ahmad Mojtahedi Tehrani, Ayatollah Sayyid Ebrahim Khosrowshahi, and Grand Ayatollah Vahid Khorasani, whom he frequently cites as significant influences on his education, clerical ethics, and approach to religious scholarship. Additionally, he has stated that he attended the advanced jurisprudence (Kharij Fiqh) lectures of Ali Khamenei for several years.

Public Service and Government Roles

Moradi served as an Advisor to the Mayor of Tehran from 2008 to 2013, during which he was also a member of the Board of Directors of the Cultural and Arts Organization of Tehran Municipality. In December 2013, he was appointed as the President of the Cultural and Arts Organization of Tehran Municipality, a position he held until April 2015. Following his tenure as head of the organization, he resumed his role as Advisor to the Mayor of Tehran, serving from 2015 to 2017.

Cultural, Media, and Legal Roles

In October 2013, Moradi was appointed by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance as a member of the Film Screening Permit Council (شورای پروانه نمایش), which oversees cinema regulations in Iran. However, he resigned from the council prior to the official commencement of its sessions. Additionally, he has served as a member of the Tehran Press Court Jury (هیأت منصفه مطبوعات استان تهران).

Family and Social Initiatives

Moradi is a co-founder and board member of the Family Consolidation Foundation (Bonyad-e Tahkim-e Khanevadeh), an organization focused on strengthening marital stability and reducing divorce rates. Alongside his pre-marital educational initiative, Kalas Mojaradha, he launched "Khanevadeh Nowpa" (Newborn Family), offering free communication and life skills workshops for newly married couples.

Opposition to the promotion of polygamy

In a 2019 interview, Moradi argued that promoting polygamy was neither necessary nor a social priority and that activists working on family and marriage should instead focus on encouraging unmarried people to marry and form families. He also recounted a meeting of family activists with Ali Khamenei, saying that Khamenei had expressed reservations about polygamy and did not support recommending it. and Moradi's account was cited by Fars News Agency in later reporting on the controversy over Khamenei's position on promoting polygamy.

Philanthropy

In 2013, Moradi founded the Madar-e Mehraban Foundation (Charity No. 32689), establishing its legal NGO structure based on the name of Khadija bint Khuwaylid after inviting a board of founders to join the initiative. Dedicated to combating childhood hunger and malnutrition across Iran, the foundation focuses primarily on the direct provision of meals and nutritional support for impoverished children. The name refers to the Iranian concept of nazri, a votive offering associated with a religious vow. In Iranian tradition, nazri food may be shared with both rich and poor, rather than being limited to recipients of charitable aid. Under the initiative, live ducks were provided to needy rural families, allowing them to use the eggs and breed and raise the ducks for household consumption.

Activities

Moradi is a social and climate change activist, and advocates for expanding green space by tree-planting and saving natural resources by promoting the scientific level of watershed management and, with students, annually planting trees in the outskirts of the city of Tehran on Arbor Day. Moradi has given talks at various Iranian universities and religious sites such as Fatima Masumeh Shrine, Imam Reza Shrine, and Shah Cheragh, and has given international speeches. He was the main speaker at memorial services for actor Khosrow Shakibai, singer Morteza Pashaei, TV host Farzad Jamshidi , the environmentalist Mohammad Ali Inanloo, and the Iranian military officer Qasem Soleimani. He also delivered a speech following an earthquake in Kermanshah, Iran.

"Bolbol-e Tehran" and Environmental Initiatives

Prior to his official administrative roles, Moradi frequently advocated for urban wildlife protection and environmental responsibility, framing the decline of urban bird populations as a key civic issue. Following his appointment as head of the Cultural and Art Organization of Tehran Municipality, he established "Tehran, the City of Kindness" as the core operational slogan, expanding public ethics to encompass ecosystem protection and urban wildlife care. Cultural symbolic gestures, such as distributing "Kindness Packages" (including birdhouses and bird feeders) at artistic events, were integrated into municipal initiatives. In October 2014, this approach culminated in the public campaign "Tehran Has Birds" (Persian: تهران پرنده دارد), designed to foster environmental empathy and civic responsibility among families and children. Across 11 major cultural centers and public parks in Tehran, hundreds of birds were released into the wild alongside educational workshops. the purchase and release of a substantial number of wild white-spectacled bulbuls and white-eared bulbuls that had been captured by poachers in southern Iran and transported to Tehran for commercial trade. He framed this personal expenditure as prioritizing the shared civic experience of restored urban bird song over the private ownership of caged pet birds.

In Roozha (; "These Days")